Commuters stand during a commute on a Metro North train from the main Fairfield station on Monday, Sept. 30, 2013. The trains were running on 50 percent capacity after last week's electrical failure.
Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

Commuters stand during a commute on a Metro North train from the...

Commuters board a Metro North train at the main Fairfield station on Monday, Sept. 30, 2013. The trains were running on 50 percent capacity after last week's electrical failure.
Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

Commuters board a Metro North train at the main Fairfield station...

Workers at the site of a power failure near the Mount Vernon East, N.Y., Train Station, Thrusday, Sept. 26, 2013. A damaged high-voltage feeder cable affected Metro-North rail service on the New Haven Line for days last fall.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Workers at the site of a power failure near the Mount Vernon East,...

Commuters crowd the aisle of a New York-bound train from Stamford early Thursday morning as Metro-North implemented a plan to operate limited service between Stamford and Grand Central as it struggles to restore power to the busy New Haven Line.
Photo: Contributed Photo

Commuters crowd the aisle of a New York-bound train from Stamford...

Vehicular traffic moves along Interstate 95 through Stamford, Conn., on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Since Metro-North had a power failure on their New Haven train lines last week they have offered limited service, forcing some commuters to drive.
Photo: Jason Rearick

Vehicular traffic moves along Interstate 95 through Stamford, Conn., on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Since Metro-North had a power failure on their New Haven train lines last week they have offered limited service, forcing some commuters to drive.

Vehicular traffic moves along Interstate 95 through Stamford, Conn., on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. Since Metro-North had a power failure on their New Haven train lines last week they have offered limited service, forcing some commuters to drive.

Northbound traffic on I-95 in Greenwich, Tuesday night, Oct. 1, 2013. An electrical issue with a feeder cable near the Mount Vernon East, N.Y. train station, a week ago, is still affecting service on the Metro-North New Haven line forcing commuters to drive into New York City to get to work.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Northbound traffic on I-95 in Greenwich, Tuesday night, Oct. 1, 2013. An electrical issue with a feeder cable near the Mount Vernon East, N.Y. train station, a week ago, is still affecting service on the Metro-North New Haven line forcing commuters to drive into New York City to get to work.
Photo: Bob Luckey

Metro-North said it will have more trains Wednesday morning on its New Haven Line. But a full fix remains days away, and commuters on Tuesday encountered new problems with the railroad's aging infrastructure.

Additional power is flowing from its temporary substation in Harrison, N.Y., Metro-North said, meaning the New Haven Line will be operating at about 65 percent of its usual capacity, up from half-capacity earlier in the week. The line has been crippled by a Sept. 25 power failure along an eight-mile section of track in New York.

Even with service creeping toward normal, New York-bound workers face a tough commute. Interstate 95 and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways were jammed with traffic Tuesday, with some delays stretching more than 20 miles. Similar conditions are likely Wednesday.

But, bad as the traffic was, it wasn't gridlock, said Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. He described the traffic volume on I-95 as "a little heavier than normal'' Tuesday morning.

Some who braved the trains found themselves coasting to a stop on tracks near Mamaroneck, N.Y. The cause: another power problem.

David Walker, a former U.S. comptroller general and resident of Bridgeport, tweeted "On a (Metro North) train with no power headed to NYC. Our federal govt. shutdown and third world rail system are both global embarrassments."

Spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the train experienced a power problem about 10 a.m. The train was sent back to Stamford and "rerouted," though Anders said the train's 700 passengers weren't moved to a diesel train. She said the overhead catenary wires were inspected and re-energized around 11:20 a.m. and deemed "good for use."

The outage occurred along the section being powered by temporary transformers, but according to the railroad, it was not related to the temporary remedy that Con Ed put in place over the weekend. Full service on the New Haven Line is expected to be in place Oct. 7 or Oct. 8. That's a week earlier than previously estimated, but the pace of repairs was small consolation Tuesday to people whose daily routines have been disrupted.

A rider named Joe Doran tweeted that his train had only standing room as it left Noroton Heights.

"Even more sardines are packed in at Stamford," he said. "And rolling slow."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, which governs Metro-North, met Tuesday and moved to pay back railroad customers for weekly and monthly tickets they have not used following the power failure.

Many of Connecticut's political leaders, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, had called for such a move. On Tuesday, Blumenthal said Metro-North and Con Ed still have many questions to answer about the power outage.

Blumenthal has said he wants a Senate committee to grill top executives from the railroad and the utility. But with the federal government partially shut down, many congressional staffers have been furloughed from their jobs. Many hearings have been postponed.

The Democratic senator from Greenwich told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers that he won't let the issue go, even if the New Haven Line is fixed before the fiscal standoff in Washington ends.

"I will lose absolutely no motivation or determination to do this hearing and conduct a full and aggressive congressional inquiry," Blumenthal said. "There are other similar substations and feeder cables at other points on the line. The question is: Where will the next crisis or breakdown be?"

Blumenthal also said he thinks Con Edison should reimburse Metro-North for the payments it will have to make to riders. Many commuters in southwestern Connecticut depend on the railroad for their daily transportation, but Connecticut taxpayers also pay for a large chunk of the railroad's operations and improvements on the lines east of the Hudson River.

"The state has a very major economic stake in the railroad and its proper functioning, since it pays a very large portion of the expenses," Blumenthal said.